Calder: Beg

Alexander Calder

1898 - 1976

Poll

Is your bedroom clean or messy?

• Clean

• Messy

Calder's Studio

Sculpture

• Calder made things with metal, wood, and wire

• Art Word: Sculpture

• Create mobiles: Sculptures that move

• Born in America!

Young Sandy

• Nickname: Sandy

• Has a workshop/studio since he was 10

• Made his own toys and games

• At younger than 5, he made wood and wire people and animals

• Age 10: Cut thin sheets of metal to make the little dog sculpture as a Christmas present for his parents

Calder's Jewelry

• Age 8: Made jewelry for Peggy's dolls out of little beads and wire a telephone repairman left

• Famous Artist: Made jewelry for his wife, friends, and Peggy

Multiple Choice

Is this sculpture abstract?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

What animal do you think this is?

• Horse

• Llama

• Dog

• Cat

Abstract

Mobiles

• Calder's most important work of art

• American sculpture most liked by people all over the world.

Poll

Have you ever seen a mobile before?

• Yes

• No

Horned Toad Racing

• Would race horned toads with his sister

• Would tie matchbox cars onto them to race them

• He dangled flies in front of them to encourage them to move faster

Poll

Have you ever been on a see saw?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

Do you think that balance is important when making mobiles?

• Yes

• No

Calder Quote About Balance

"I start by cutting out a lot of shapes. Next I file them and smooth them off. Some are bits I just happen to find. Then I arrange them on a table with wires between the pieces for the overall pattern. Finally I cut some more on them with the shears, figuring the balance. You put a shape her and then you put another shape at the other end and then you balance them on your finger. I begin with the smallest and work up."

Multiple Choice

Which pieces did he start with first?

• Smallest

• Biggest

Multiple Choice

What did he use to help him find balance?

• Finger

• Toe

Try to guess the title of this mobile

Multiple Choice

Guess the name

• Baby Spider

• Lobster Trap and Fish Tail

• Whale

• Horned Toad Racing

Lobster Trap and Fish Tail

Calder's Tools

• Used Simple Tools

• Tools: Pliers and Wire Cutters

• Materials: Wires and Sheet Metal

• He did not like power tools

Standing Mobile

• Mobiles that have a base holding it up.

• Three Kinds of mobiles: Standing, Hanging, and ones that hang from walls

Multiple Choice

Guess the name of the mobile

• Baby Spider

• Lobster Trap and Fish Tail

• Whale

• Horned Toad Racing

Baby Spider

• Has a lot of "legs" that will move in the wind

• Is abstract, doesn't really look like a baby spider.

Multiple Select

Which three colors do you think Calder used the most?

• Red

• Yellow

• Black

• Pink

Calder Colors

• Red

• Black

• Yellow

• Became known as Calder Colors

Multiple Choice

Which color do you think Calder used most?

• Red

• Black

• Yellow

• Pink

Stabiles

• Used bright red more than any color

• Do these sculptures move?

• Stabiles can be seen all over the world

Models

• First Calder would make a small stabile in his studio by cutting pieces of sheet metal

• Special metal workers would make the giant pieces by copying Calder's model

• Construction workers pt them together, while Calder made sure everything was right

Calder Holding Mobile

• He was a happy man

• He was always joking, grinning, and gigling

• Enjoyed putting together interesting shapes, bright colors, and lively motion.

Multiple Choice

Calder was from the United States

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Calder was a grumpy, unhappy man

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

He used a scale to make things balance

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Some of his favorite colors were red and black

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

His artwork was abstract

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

He used the color green in a lot of his artwork

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

What a sculpture sits on is called a base

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

A stabile is a sculpture that doesn't move

• True

• False